Years spent in the weight room and on the field are being rewarded for one local athlete.
Stroud graduate Grant Elerick won the Jim Thorpe High School Player of the Year award in football.
This is the 36th Annual All Sports and Scholar Athlete Awards presented by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
The Oklahoma Football Coaches Association President Brett Jones said the criteria they looked at for picking a recipient was character, citizenship, quality of play and academics.
“We thought Grant would be a great recipient,” Jones said.
The OFBCA sends their selected recipient to the Oklahoma Coaches Association, who then sent the list of all recipients in all sports to the OSHOF. Grant had heard of the award, but never considered being awarded with it.
Grant had heard of the award, but never considered being awarded with it.
Grant found out he won the award when a friend tagged him in a tweet on Twitter that a sports reporter had posted that had the names of the recipients in it.
“That’s how I found out,” he said. “That was a nice surprise.”
Looking back on his career, Grant said he couldn’t have done it without his teammates by his side.
“Obviously, I had a lot of playmakers around me.” Grant said. “I had receivers, my brother, Gage, offensive linemen who were really good, that helped me have the success that I’ve had. They need credit too.”
Chris Elerick, Grants father and coach, said this award is a great honor to receive, but also humbling.
“At the same time, football is the ultimate team sport and anytime you have an individual, or individuals, who get awards for a team sport, it’s bigger than the individual,” Chris said. “It means they were probably on a pretty good team with a lot of good players playing with them. This senior class has been very decorated as far as awards go and this is another one for this class. It’s pretty awesome.”
During his senior year, Grant has been awarded with the Region Male Athlete of the Year, Allstate football team and District 7 MVP. During his junior year, he was awarded with the Skordle Week 7 Player of the Week and Allstate honorable mention.
Grant has been playing football since the third grade and will be continuing his football career at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK.
“Personally what I’m most excited for, I’m ready to prove myself,” he said.
Throughout his career, people would tell Grant he only played because his dad was the coach.
“I get all that,” he said. “Now looking forward, he’s not my coach, and I’m up with higher competition. I’m excited to go and prove myself and compete for a starting spot.”
Grant said it will be a weird transition going from playing with 26 players in Stroud to being one of eight quarterbacks.
“I’m just going to be one of the guys up there,” he said. “I’m excited for that.”